1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to shaping a spherical body consisting of dough crust and a filling, and more particularly, to shaping the spherical body by constricting a continuously fed cylindrical body consisting of dough crust and a filling, without exposing or spilling the filling.
2. Prior Art
Japanese Utility Model Early-Publication 85178/85 discloses a cutter comprising a plurality of squeezing pieces in a guide, means to slide the squeezing pieces, whereby bar foodstuffs are cut. The object of the utility model is a cutter wherein the bar foodstuffs, consisting of a single component, are cut by the squeezing pieces. Each of the squeezing pieces preferably has at its inner end a sharp edge to smoothly cut the foodstuffs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,201 discloses an extrusion apparatus wherein an iris valve closes and opens its polygonal shaped aperture to cut an extruded article consisting of a filling and a coating material.
The iris valve is composed of a plurality of circumferentially disposed leaf members, which open and close the aperture by force applied in the radial direction. The plural leaf members overlap each other to make the aperture, so that the thickness of each leaf member is necessarily limited, and the aperture cannot be completely closed. Further, as the aperture is necessarily defined by the sharp edges found by the inner ends of the thin leaf members, an article is liable to be penetrated by the leaf members as it is cut by a sharp blade. Also, an article to be cut tends to clog between the leaf members.
Furthermore, the narrowing of the aperture constricts the article by applying force toward the center of the article, while increasing the contact area of the leaf members with the article, so that in many cases the edges of the aperture are forced into the filling in the extruded article, whereby the filling is readily exposed.
Therefore, when a spherical body consisting of the crust and the filling is prepared by cutting a continuously fed material an apparatus and method has been required in which an opening completely closes, no filling or crust is liable to adhere to the cutter or between members constituting the cutter, and the filling is satisfactorily encrusted with the crust.